Sure, you might know the famous movie quote "I am Spartacus!," but who was the real gladiator Spartacus? He was a Thracian-born mercenary-turned-probable deserter who was sold into slavery in the first century BCE, becoming a gladiator at a famed school in Italy. In 73 BCE, Spartacus and about 70 of his pals fled their bondage; over the next few years, they gathered tens of thousands of slaves in a conflict against Rome.